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I think rawhides are fine for young pups. They chew them but aren't strong enough yet to chew them up very fast. Big dogs have the jaw power to tear rawhides up and ingest some large pieces. I've seen some rather big pieces go in and come out of dogs so I don't want to risk the chance of an intestinal blockage with a big dog.

I prefer the larger ones because, I believe, they are tougher harder for the pup to tear apart. Plus, the pups seem to like them.

Howard NiemiYou really gotta be careful about how high a pedestal you put your method, your accomplishments, your dog on. There's usually someone who's done more, somewhere. And they may have used a different method than you did! Chris Atkinson 2013

I think rawhides are fine for young pups. They chew them but aren't strong enough yet to chew them up very fast. Big dogs have the jaw power to tear rawhides up and ingest some large pieces. I've seen some rather big pieces go in and come out of dogs so I don't want to risk the chance of an intestinal blockage with a big dog.

I prefer the larger ones because, I believe, they are tougher harder for the pup to tear apart. Plus, the pups seem to like them.

I have a 2.5 year old BLM and he chewed everything but grew out of it by around a year old. He had plenty of chew toys etc but he preferred our deck, the gas grill, my enclosed trailer the expensive things. H is an indoor dog and never chewed anything up inside outside of his rope toys but he really enjoyed the many things in the backyard, the wooden cedar swing, eating through a trampoline I could name more but I think that's what pups do. It was a stage for us thank goodness he outgrew it. I'm glad he was an outdoor chewer as a pup. For all the damage he did outside he never touched anything inside. He is hands down the best indoor dog we have ever had.

@FieldLab - In my experience ( 9 mos. old Chessie Male) Chessie's don't chew less! We crate trained our Chessie, so it was controllable, but the time before he finished teething, and sometimes now, was spent constantly supervising him, because he chewed everything. Shoes, toys, cardboard boxes, blankets, 2 corners of my kitchen cabinet drawer, my dinette bench corners in the kitchen...my wooden outdoor bench, etc. and that was with Constant supervision...he was quick and sometimes very quiet, lol. He also liked to bite and gnaw on all of us in the family. That was a huge amount of work to teach him not to do that.

OP - It's a dog thing. Dog's chew. It's like another sense for them, kind of like a human baby, one of their first senses, really is putting an item in their mouth and feeling it. Dog's need to put things in their mouth, feel it, really figure it out, because they're smelling it and tasting it at the same time. This is something you want to encourage in a retriever. He needs to want to put things in his mouth, because that's his job. One thing we did to combat all this, was to teach the "gentle" command ASAP, and also rolling his bottom lip over his teeth and pressing down on his teeth with his own gums when he bit us. "Yelping" at him did nothing...I think it excited him more. Once he figured out the "gentle" command, and that he got treats and praise for being gentle, he WANTED to be gentle.

My advice,

1. Crate the dog if you're not able to be in the same room with him and paying attention to him.
2. Give him acceptable things to chew on.
3. Teach him the "Drop" command, so you can get the things he shouldn't have in his mouth out.
4. Teach him the "gentle" command so he doesn't bite you.
5. Make sure he gets enough exercise.
6. Make sure he gets enough mental stimulation. Work obedience in the morning, several times throughout the day and evening. Just a few minutes a session will help. Also, toys where he has to figure something out will help.
7. Don't use the e-collar on anything he doesn't already know the command to. For instance, I have used e-collar pressure when our chessie refused to "drop" a baby diaper he had stolen, and had barricaded himself in a corner of my dinette set where I couldn't reach him. He knew the command well by then, and was refusing to obey because he thought he could get away with it. He was also well over 6 mos. old by then, not a little puppy anymore and diapers are very dangerous if ingested...they can swell and cause intestinal blockage.
8. Feel free to give correction when he chews on something he shouldn't, but don't go overboard. A firm "No!" and taking the item away and offering an appropriate item is actually really effective.